RECOGNITION 



PRIENDg IN HEAVEN 



P 

Professor PURL 0, WOODRUFF, LL, U. 

INTERLACHEN, FLORIDA, 



Rev, JONATHAN F. WOODRUFF, 

BROOKLYN, INDIANA. 



INDIANA Oe'NPEREN-OE. 



[NBIANAPOLIS: 

WM. B. BURFORD, PRINTKR IND B1NDKR. 

1887. 



RECOGNITION 



PI^IBND^ IN HEAVER 



PrDfBssDT PURL G. UIOOORUFF, LL. D. 

1NTERLACHEN, FLORIDA, 



Rev, JONATHAN F. WOODRUFF, 

BROOKLYN. INDIANA. 






INDI^N^ C0NPERENCE. 



, APH 23 mij> 
***** washimS? 



INDIANAPOLIS: 

WM. B BURFORD, PRINTER AND BINDKR. 

1887. 



P" I, 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, 

By J. F. WOODRUFF, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



PREFACE. 



The object I have in writing this book is to do 
good. Should this little volume be the means of 
leading any sinner to Christ, or even refreshing the 
soul of any saint, thus helping him on his way to 
glory, I will feel amply rewarded for writing, and 
would most gratefully ascribe all the praise and 
glory to God. 

God can bless the feeblest instrument. A few rays 
of light come to us from observation, experience, and 
especially from Revelation. Why not collect them 
and use them in the promotion of our Redeemer's 
kingdom? The subject of "knowing each other in 
heaven " can not be brought before the masses of the 
people too often. Written in a small book like this 
brings it within the reach of all — the poor as well as 
the rich. 

In handling this delightful subject, the Word of 
God has been my guide. To this blessed volume we 
are indebted for all the sure and true revelation that 
has been made on this subject. 

It is in the Bible we attain glimpse of this glori- 
ous doctrine of the recognitions of friends in heaven. 



CONTENTS. 



First.— To My Readers 5, 6 

Chapter I. — Foundation for the Doctrine of 

Recognition 7, 8 

Chapter II.— Variety and Size and Appearance 

in Heaven 9-11 

Chapter III. — Testimony from Experience and 

Observation 11-18 

Chapter IV. — Testimony from Scripture Sup- 
porting Observation 18-23 

Chapter V. — Testimony from Poetry 2-3-29 

Chapter VI. — A Grave and Serious Question... 29-34 

Chapter VII. — Testimony from Emotional 

Perception or Feeling 34-37 

Chapter VIII. — Testimony from Scripture 37-43 

The Conclusion 43-45 



TO MY READERS. 



SHALL WE KNOW ONE ANOTHER IN HEAVEN f 

I have been interested in this subject, more or less, 
ever since I had much thought about it. I love to 
contemplate such a theme. The Scriptures are al- 
most silent on this sacred subject. u There must be 
some good reason why obscurity surrounds such a 
delightful subject, and a knowledge of which we so 
much desire. We would not be left to strain our 
faculties so ineffectually if it were not either that in 
the nature of the case it must needs be there should 
be obscurity, or that it is best for purposes of disci- 
pline that it should be so." I have wondered why 
they do not say more, but an after-thought leads me 
to say, " God knoios best." 

God lets us know just enough to create within us a 
desire to know more, thus leading us to glory by one 
of his many real charms. I am so thankful that it is 
a subject in God's revelation to man, if there is but 
little said about it. God has said all that was neces- 
sary. If there had been a necessity for saying more 
for man's salvation, God would have said it. 

The thought of knowing my friends in heaven is 
a pleasant one to me. The thought of enlarging my 
circle of acquaintance in glory, as the cycles of eter- 
nity roll on, is still more pleasant. If the thought is 
a pleasure what must or will be the reality ? My 



tongue fails to tell, my mind fails to conceive, my 
words fail to express the rapture of a redeemed 
soul in the presence of other redeemed associates in 
heaven. 

I have often thought, should I not know my friends 
in heaven I would have but little desire to go there. 
I can not think for a moment that we will have less 
use of our intellectual or knowing powers in heaven 
than we have here. We recognize each other here, 
and the faculties by which this is done will no doubt 
survive death and be used in heaven to enlarge our 
circle of acquaintance. " That we shall recognize 
our former friends in heaven and shall again be asso- 
ciated with them was uniformly believed by all an- 
tiquity." This idea was admitted, as altogether 
rational and as a consoling thought, by the most dis- 
tinguished ancient philosophers, such as Socrates 
and Cicero." May thy soul rise on the wings of 
meditation and survey the glories of the heavenly 
world ! Look beyond the dim visions of mortality — 
beyond the swelling of Jordan, beyond the gloomy 
grave, and behold with the eye of faith the beautiful 
mountains, where shines the glorious, eternal city of 
our God, and where millions of happy saints — among 
whom are our loved ones — are to reign in glory for- 
ever and forever. This is our Father's house. " In 
our Father's house there are many mansions," says 
our elder brother, Jesus. These mansions are for 
you. They are eternal. They are for you, dear 
reader. Will you be there ? " So run that ye may 
obtain " an abundant entrance. 



CHAPTER 1. 

FOUNDATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF RECOGNITION. 

The doctrine of the resurrection of these self-same 
bodies is presumptive evidence in favor of the doc- 
trine of recognition of friends in the heavenly world. 
The doctrine of the resurrection stands or falls with 
the resurrection of Christ. Hence some thoughts, 
before we proceed further, on the resurrection will 
not be out of place. This is necessary for the basis 
of recognition of friends in heaven, is founded on 
the fact of our resurrection, and the basis of our 
resurrection is Christ. 

" If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is 
Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is 
our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, 
we are found false witnesses of God, because we have 
testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He 
raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. Then 
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are per- 
ished." 

So you see the importance of the resurrection ot 
these bodies, and especially that of Christ's resur- 
rection, 'in order to have a sure foundation for the 
doctrine of recognition. 

The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ from 
the dead is accepted by foes as well as by friends. 
Christ says : " I am the resurrection and the life." 
He shows that the doctrine of the resurrection in re- 
lation to Him is essential, fundamental and of univer- 
sal importance. As prophet He first revealed it fully, 
not as a new doctrine, but as one that had been in 
obscurity. The resurrection of the body was a part 
of that life and immortality on which Christ shed 
light. Hence his rebuke to the Sadducees was ex- 



8 



plicit: "Now that the dead are raised up, Moses 
showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the 
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob." 

The Jews, before and at the time of our Lord's 
ministry, believed in a physical resurrection and no 
other. The early Christians held to the same faith. 
Such has been the current creed of the Christian for 
eighteen centuries. The Apostles of Christ, endued 
with power from on high, preached and wrote on 
the resurrection as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost. That the mortal, corruptible body shall be 
raised by the power of God, and be made incorrupt- 
ible, immortal and reinhabited by their former souls. 

Without the resurrection of our bodies, and 
Christ's, as the first fruits of them that slept, it would 
seem useless to talk about knowing each other in 
heaven. But, on the other hand, we are glad to 
think that our glorified bodies will be the instru- 
ments of such recognition in heaven. Christians, 
especially, will stand before God as personally and as 
individually known and distinguishable from his 
fellow beings as he now stands before God and man 
on earth. 

Without our individuality in heaven there will be 
no recognition. Where our individuality exists rec- 
ognition is a necessary consequence. As Wm. Merry 
has said, " If with our present limited knowledge we 
know each other after a long period of absence and 
change from youth to age, is it possible that re- 
deemed men with enlarged perception of a higher ex- 
istence can fail to recognize the earthly friends who 
were the faithful solace of their life's pilgrimage ? " 



CHAPTER II. 

VARIETY, AND SIZE, AND APPEARANCE IN HEAVEN. 

Christ raising his own body from the grave and 
that of his friend Lazarus — a trophy from death, a 
specimen of a physical resurrection — places this 
great doctrine beyond the reach of successful contra- 
diction. These facts being established, it gives me 
pleasure in this short chapter to answer a question 
that has long puzzled the minds of many dear, good 
people. That question is this: "Will there be va- 
riety in the size and appearance of our bodies in 
heaven?" Or, to put the same question in another 
form," If Jessie, Jennie or little Helen — my darling lit- 
tle girls of five, three and one years — should die while 
they are just as they now appear, would it be little 
Jessie, Jennie or Helen in heaven?" I would an- 
swer, "Yes." "How do you know," says one. "I 
believe in a physical resurrection. The same body 
I put in the tomb will come forth. A man's body 
will come forth a man's body. So it would be the 
same little bodies of Jessie, Jennie or Helen, should 
they die and be buried while little children, that 
would come forth, and not the bodies of full grown 
persons. As the poet has well said : 

" A babe in glory a babe forever, 
Forever growing in loveliness and love ; 
Yet it can not pass the limit 
Which defines its being." 

I fully concur with Bishop Foster in the following 
statement: "When we pass into the next state we 
shall carry with us a vivid recollection of this state ; 
of persons, things and events such as we take with 
us when we go from one country to another; from 



10 

England to France, or from France to the United 
States ; such as we carry with us through the suc- 
cessive grades of natural life. 

"We shall meet in the next state persons known in 
this, and shall recognize them as Carrie, Jane, Ella, 
Mary, Thomas and Samuel as we should recognize them 
in London or in Paris. * * * We retain and restore 
our former selves wholly by restoring the experiences 
of the past. Destroy them, and though we be sup- 
posed to have existed, we can not know that we have 
existed. All previous existence must be an utter 
blank." 

We shall know there as we are known here. 
There will be variety in size and appearance. How 
tame and monotonous a flower garden would be if all 
the flowers were precisely alike in form, size and 
color. As Rev. H. Mattison has said : "For aught we 
know, the same law of variety that pervades all the 
works of God will, no doubt, appear in the world to 
come. We see no reason for supposing that the in- 
fant body will be raised as a full-grown young man 
or woman. Why should the body of the tender in- 
fant be expanded to manhood ? Why should it be 
expected that all will be graded up or leveled down 
to the same plane of stature or appearance; unlike 
what we have ever been or seen in the present world 
and unlike all the analogies of Jehovah's universe. 
Leaving out the perpetuity of the human race, what 
would this world be without children ? 

" And so of the life to come ; though in respect to 
marrying and giving in marriage, we are as the an- 
gels of God, we can see no necessity for nor advantage 
in the idea that there will be no infant or childlike 
bodies in the resurrection." " Suffer little children 
to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of 
Heaven" are Christ's own words, and by children he 



11 

does not mean grown persons, but your dear little 
children. 

That we shall be like unto Christ's glorious body 
does not imply that all our bodies shall be precisely 
like His in stature, etc., but that we shall be like Him 
in incorruption, and glory, and immorality, all of 
which is perfectly consistent with the idea of variety 
and size in the life to come." Did I not believe in 
the resurrection of these self-same bodies I could not, 
with any degree of certainty, advance the doctrine 
of variety in size and appearance of our bodies in 
heaven. There will be this difference in all our 
bodies : Whereas, there are many imperfections here, 
they will be perfect in heaven. Variety in size and 
appearance of our bodies in heaven adds another 
link to the chain of argument for the belief in the 
recognition of friends in heaven. 



CHAPTER III. 

TESTIMONY FROM EXPERIENCE AND OBSERVATION. 

There is a ray of light on the doctrine of recogni- 
tion coming from observation. It is not adduced as 
direct, but as inferential evidence. It is evidence 
that will be satisfactory with many persons, because 
it is of that kind of which they have been witnesses. 
It is a kind of evidence that has more weight of 
satisfaction and consolation to a certain class than 
the strong evidence of Scripture. 

I am aware that the basis of this class of evidence 
rests on the authority of God's word, and is so un- 
derstood by those who get so much comfort from 
this ray of light coming from observation. 

This evidence comes from such a source and in 
such a manner that we can not reasonably doubt it. 



12 

It conies from that class of persons who are not 
dead, so to speak, and yet who are hardly alive to 
material objects. They appear to be in their transi- 
tion state from death to life, or, in other words, cross- 
ing the line that divides the future from the present. 
The vail of the future seems to be lifted a few mo- 
ments before the spirit leaves the body. In fact, the 
door of the future must open, or, more properly 
speaking, the fine, invisible vail of the future must 
part asunder and let the spirit in as it goes out of the 
body. It is while the spirit of our departed friends 
is passing out of the body that we catch those ex- 
pressions of persons, things and places that give us 
great comfort and joy. We seem to realize that 
they are not dead, but have passed just a little be- 
yond our reach. 

These strange, yet familiar, occurrences can not be 
explained on any other hypothesis, satisfactorily, 
than that they do actually see and recognize their 
friends in heaven. 0, what joy and peace, even 
when our friends are dying, to hear of and see them 
calling the familiar name of "father!" "mother!" 
or, " I see Mary," or " Yonder is little Willie," or 
"Papa, mother has come to take me home," or "I 
see the angels; they are in my room," or shout that 
endearing name, " Mother, O, mother," and then 
quietly pass out into the future. So pleasant and 
quiet has been the transition of the spirit from the 
body that no friction was apparent, and the happy 
spirit left its impress upon the cold and lifeless hab- 
itation of the soul. 

For the satisfaction of ray readers I will here give 
a few instances from friends whom I know and from 
whom I gather the following facts : 

In company with Mrs. Woodruff I made a pastoral 
visit to John B. Kinker, two miles east of Brooklyn, 



13 



Ind. While there the subject of recognition of friends 
in heaven came up, and in our conversation I asked 
Mrs. Rinker — a pious and devoted woman — if she 
believed in the " recognition of friends in heaven ? " 
She said, very earnestly, "Most certainly I do." 
While first one and then the other would bring up 
some passage of Scripture bearing on this delightful 
subject, yet there was one source of light from which 
Sister Rinker drew, and that was from the case of 
her own dear mother. I kindly asked her to relate 
the circumstance of her mother's death. 

She said : "My mother, Elizabeth Beckley, died 
September 1,1883. A few hours before she seemed 
to be sinking, but revived again. Her companion 
and children were around her bedside. She looked 
up toward heaven and raised her trembling hand,, 
while her face seemed to light up with a heavenly 
smile as she exclaimed: "I see the angels;" "I see 
Lide " — her daughter who died eight years before 
and left a bright evidence that she was going to rest. 
My sister Jane, who had lost a son two years before, 
said: "Mother, do you see Jesse?" "Yes, I see 
them all," was the answer, and passed away peace- 
fully to join her loved ones. Who doubts it? Not I. 

The daughter of John and Nancy Williams died 
at Indianapolis in July, 1873. She was five years 
old. In her manners she was a little woman. Just 
at the moment of her death, she called for father to 
come in or near her. As her father came closer to 
his dear little daughter, she turned herself in bed 
and cried, "Maggie, Maggie" — her little sister who 
had preceded her about three months — and then 
reached out her hands as though she desired to go to 
her, and thus passed into glory, no doubt, accom- 
panied by Maggie as the twain approached the 
throne. 



14 

Belle Mittchell, of Alfordsville, Ind., was seven- 
teen years old when she died. She seemed to realize 
that she was dying and called for her mother and 
father to come to the bed. Belle bade them good- 
bye and told them to meet her in heaven. She did 
the same with brother and sister. She then asked 
her mother to sing : 

"Jesus lover of my soul 
Let me to Thy bosom fly." 

While they were singing, she raised her hand and 
pointed upward, saying : "1 see Emma!" — her sister, 
who died one year before Belle was born — and then 
fell asleep in Jesus. 

William Woods, who lived near the same town — 
Alfordsville — died in his seventy-second year. Just 
before dying he bade his wife and children good-bye, 
and made them promise to meet him in heaven. 
(None of the family were Christians except himself.) 
He then talked of going to heaven as you would 
talk of going to live in or visit a distant town or 
city. Finally, he pointed upward and said : "I see 
mother ! She is calling me to come to her ; good- 
bye," and passed away. His mother had died when 
he was only six months old. 

As Brother Charles Asbury— who furnished me with 
the last two of the above incidents — says, such deaths 
as these ought to inspire all of us to fight on to the 
end that we may have an " abundant entrance into 
the joy of our Lord " and be with our friends, whom 
we shall know and recognize, in our " Father's house" 
"If it were not so, I would have told you," said the 
Blessed Savior. 

In the year of 1873 or '74 the estimable daughter 
of Rev. T. A. Goodwin, of Indianapolis, who was 
just entering the maturity of womanhood, was called 



15 

to die. " Calmly and patiently, through months of 
intense suffering, she approached the final hour with 
many expressions of trust in God. The last day 
finally came, after a night of indescribable pain ; 
cold limbs, a failing pulse, and difficult breathing all 
indicated the closing scene. Addressing her mother 
she said, ' You will not have to watch with me to- 
night, for this poor suffering body will be at rest, but 
I shall be with my Savior.' Shortly afterward, hav- 
ing taken an affectionate farewell of the family, she 
reached out her hand, cold in death, as if to embrace 
some one unseen by the rest. With a smile of rec- 
ognition she began to call by name departed members- 
of the family and others of her acquaintances who had 
died, adding, after some minutes of such greetings,. 
' Here we are an unbroken family in heaven, washed 
in the blood of the Lamb. Washed, washed, 
washed ! ' And in a few moments she was in the 
spirit world." 

Rev. T. A. Goodwin, in his work, " Mode of Man's. 
Immortality, " gives the following : " Dr. Lowell 
Mason, the sweet singer, died at an advanced age. 
Long years ago he had buried his first born, a lovely 
boy named Daniel. Friends stood around him 
watching the ebbing of life, at the close of a beautiful 
Sabbath, but all oblivious to the living, whom he 
loved tenderly, and of whom he had just taken his 
final farewell, the dying man opened his eyes, and, 
looking upward intently, said: ' Daniel, may I 
come ? ' A.nd then, with a smile of recognition, he 
added, ' Let me come !' and breathed his last." 

We do not desire to weary our readers with such 
precious testimony, but would ask your forbearance 
in one other. On the 31st of May, 1880, near Emi- 
nence, Morgan County, Indiana, Miss Sarah E. 
Steward's health began to decline and at length de- 



16 

veloped into consumption. Her physician had in- 
formed her that he had done all in his power and 
that death was inevitable. She received the news 
with perfect calmness and serenity. She was entirely 
conscious to the last moment. As she looked into 
the beyond she gladly exclaimed: "It is all bright 
and beautiful! There is no darkness! A few more 
moments and I will be with Jesus." Then she 
stretched forth her hands, and, lifting her eyes heav- 
enward, she exclaimed : " 0, Catharine and Oliver!" 
Her father asked her if she saw Catharine and Oliver 
(a departed sister and near relative), and she said : 
" Yes ; they stand just before me."' Then she bade 
them farewell and fell asleep in Jesus. 

Who would say these things are not a reality bor- 
dering so near and on the line that separates us from 
the great future? From this field of observation 
there are thousands and tens of thousands of such 
instances as the above occurring every generation. 
These daily occurrences give us hope — a bright 
hope — a hope which is an anchor to the soul amid 
our bereavements. The ray of light from this stand- 
point comes to us fraught with comforts concerning 
the doctrine of the "Recognition of Friends in 
Glory." This ray of light, from observation, we wel- 
come and give God the glory. 

As Dr. Talmage has well said : " They waved to us 
a farewell kiss as they stood on the deck, and floated 
down further and further, 'wafted by gales from 
heaven, until they were lost to our sight — mortality 
having become immortality — 

" 'Life's duty done, as sinks the clay, 
Light from its load the spirit flies; 
While Heaven and earth combine to say, 
How blest the righteous when he dies!' 



17 

" What high consolation to you that your departed 
friends were not submerged in the swelling of Jor- 
dan. The Israelites were just as thoroughly alive on 
the western banks of the Jordan as they had been 
on the eastern banks of the Jordan ; and our departed 
Christian friends have only crossed over — not sick, 
not dead, not exhausted, not extinguished, not 
blotted out, but with healthier respiration and stouter 
pulses, and keener eyesight, and better prospects, 
crossed over, their sins, their physical and mental 
disquiet, all left clear this side, an eternally-flowing, 
impassable obstacle between them and all human and 
satanic pursuit. Crossed over! Oh, I shake hands 
of congratulation with all the bereaved in the con- 
sideration that our departed Christian friends are 
safe ! 

"Why was there, years ago, so much joy in cer- 
tain circles in JSTew York when people heard from 
their friends who were on board the City of Brus- 
sels ? It was thought that vessel had gone to the 
bottom of the sea; and when the friends on this side 
heard that the steamer had arrived safely in Liver- 
pool, had we not the right to congratulate the people 
in New York that their friends had got safely across? 
I congratulate you that your departed friends are 
safe on the shore of heaven. Would you have them 
back again? Would you have those old parents 
back again ? You know how hard it was sometimes 
for them to get their breath in the stifled atmosphere 
of the summer; would you have them back in this 
summer? Didn't they use their brain long enough ? 
Would you have your children back again? Would 
you have them take the risk of temptations which 
throng every human pathway? Would you have 
them cross the Jordan three times in addition to 
crossing it already, and cross it again to greet you 

2-R 



18 

now, and then cross back afterward? for certainly 
you would not want to keep them forever out of 
heaven. If they had lived forty or fifty years longer, 
would they have been safe ? Perhaps so, perhaps not. 

" 'Pause and weep, not for the freed from pain, 

But that the sigh of love would pull them back again.' 

"I ask a question, aud there seems to come back 
the answer in heavenly echo: 'What! will you 
never be sick again?' 'Never — sick — again.' 'What! 
will you never be tired again?' 'Never — tired — 
again.' ' What ! will you never weep again?' 'Never 
— weep — again.' 'What! will you never die again?' 
'Never — die — again.' Oh, ye army of departed kin- 
dred, we hail you from bank to bank! Wait for us 
when the Jordan of death shall part for us. 

"Come down and meet us half way between the 
willowed banks of earth and the palm groves of 
heaven. 

"' On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, 

And cast a wistful eye 
To Canaan's fair and happy land, 

Where my possessions lie. 
O, the transporting, rapturous scene 

That rises on my sight ! 
Sweet fields arrayed in living green, 

And tivers of delight.' " 



CHAPTER IV. 

TESIIMONY FROM SCRIPTURE SUPPORTED BY OBSERVATION. 

In the previous chapter, it is true, we have drawn 
largely or altogether from the field of observation, 
especially from personal observation. We think it 
is not speculation, as some may presume to say, but 



19 

a realit}\ If there is a time when people will be 
honest, it is when the cold, unrelenting grasp of 
death has come to claim them. 

That these persons, to whom we alluded in the 
former chapter, were honest we have no doubt what- 
ever. 

" These invisible realities thus seen by the soul's 
sense are not mere copies of something which the 
eye has seen before; they are not memories nor mere 
new combinations of objects familiar to the senses. 
They belong to another world." — L. Abbott. 

We do not see why we should doubt that when 
the soul leaves the body there is a visible exit (invis- 
ible to us). Just as the vail of the flesh is rent — 
drawn apart — the spirit of the departed takes its 
everlasting flight. Not, however, until some utter- 
ances are left for our consolation. Nor do I think 
such a position is without support in the Word of 
God. And the proof from the Scriptures not only 
sustains the point in question (that there is a spiritual 
perception which gives direct and sometimes imme- 
diate cognition of things lying without the domain 
of the senses), but supports the principal point — the 
doctrine of recognition. 

The first Scripture that I refer to is that concern- 
ing the young man who was with Elisha at Dothan. 
The Syrian host had come to apprehend Elisha. The 
servant of Elisha rose early and had gone forth to 
duty, when, lo, a host had compassed the city both 
with horses and chariots. The young man said : 
"Alas, my master, how shall we do?" Elisha prayed 
and said: "Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes that 
he may see." The Lord opened the eyes of the 
young man, and he saw, and behold the mountain 
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about 
Elisha. Now, then, this young man saw with his 



20 

natural eyes only the horses and chariots of Syria, 
but in answer to Elisha' s prayer God opened up his 
spiritual eyes, and he obtained a view of the mighty 
creation of the spiritual world around him. This 
was not a hallucination ; neither do I think it a hal- 
lucination when our friends cry out daring the last 
moments that they see friends who have preceded 
them to the better land, and that they know them by 
calling their names. 

In II Kings, II Chapter, 9-11 vs., we have recorded 
the fact of Elisha and Elijah together, when Elijah 
said to Elisha: "Ask what I shall do for thee before 
I am taken away from thee." Elisha said: "Let a 
double portion of thy spirit be upon me." Elijah 
said: "Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless 
if thou see me [mark see me] when I am taken from 
thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not 
be so. As they still went on and talked, behold, 
there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of lire and 
parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a 
whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it." Elisha 
saw the whole scene; the chariot and horses and the 
transfigured Elijah moving away from earth. " Not, 
however, with his natural eyes," as Dr. Whedon 
says, "for it was a scene belonging to the spiritual 
world, and to behold it he must, like the young serv- 
ant of Elisha, have his inner sense unvailed. Soon 
his inner vision is closed, and Elijah is out of the 
range of natural vision, and Elisha saw Elijah no 
more." This heavenly scene which Elisha witnessed 
was no hallucination, nor were the horses and chariots 
of fire a mere ideal symbol, seen only in a vision, 
but they had actual existence in the spiritual world. 
Why should we doubt this? Thank God! I can 
say from the depths of my soul, and with all the 
power of my will, I do not doubt it. I can not doubt 



21 

that our loved ones do see and recognize other loved 
ones just across the line that separates the visible 
from the invisible, or the material world from the 
spiritual. And while the spirits of our friends are 
not quite out of the body, nor fully in the spirit 
world, but in the doorway, we catch the glad news 
of their spirits meeting kindred spirits and recogniz- 
ing them. There is no doubt that the Divine Spirit, 
assisting the human spirit with such force and en- 
ergy, together with the glorious realization of the 
future drawing the soul, that departed friends are 
seen by those so near death, just before the spirit 
leaves the body. 

Again, Stephen, that holy man of God, had been 
telling his own countrymen of the wonderful provi- 
dence of God in their preservation as a nation, and 
that they were the betrayers and murderers of Mes- 
siah. The Jews were cut to the heart when they 
heard these things, and gnashed on him with their 
teeth. But Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, 
looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of 
God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. In 
this instance Stephen saw the glory of God and 
Jesus standing on the right hand <~>f God. Stephen 
was filled with the Holy Spirit. His soul was still in 
the body. Stephen said he saw these things. The 
eyes of his own spirit were so quickened that no ma- 
terial object and no distance could prevent him from 
beholding, as through an opening in heaven, the glory 
of God and the blessed Savior of the world. He not 
only saw the personage whom he called Christ, but 
knew his Savior as he had known Him while on 
earth, teaching and preaching the gospel of his 
kingdom. 

Bishop Foster says: "I can no more doubt Steph- 
en's vision than I can disbelieve the Sermon on the 



22 

Mount, and I know not why many others of God's 
dear children may not, as they have confidently de- 
clared, have been favored in like manner." 

Another Scripture proof on this point is that 
memorable scene on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
" when the face of Jesus did shine as the sun and 
his raiment was white as light." Where there " ap- 
peared unto Peter, James and John, Moses and 
Elias talking with Christ." Now, the plain facts are 
that these three disciples saw Moses and Elias and 
kneivihem. How? it may be asked. The disciples 
may have learned their identity by the conversation, 
or the same elevation of epirit, by which they were 
able to see them, enabled the three disciples to know 
them." 

Let us bring that strong, intellectual man of God 
— Paul — to the witness stand and hear him. 

lie says: "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen 
years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I 
can not tell, God knoweth); such a one caught up to 
the third heaven." For us to speculate on the abund- 
ance of the revelations made to Paul would be vain 
curiosity and extreme folly. But from the reading 
of this glorious translation of soul or body (perhaps 
both), to the third heaven, it is plain that Paul be- 
lieved his spirit could exist out of his body, and that 
by the operation of God it could be made to hear 
and see those persons and things which are beyond 
the range of natural vision. 

Such was the blessed experience of St. John. 
"When on the Isle of Patmos he was in the spirit on 
the Lord's day. John said: "I saw seven golden 
candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven golden 
candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man " — Christ. 
In the spirit John saw a throne (iv, 2). In the spirit 
John saw the great city — the holy Jerusalem (xxi, 10). 



23 

In the spirit John saw these things. The human spirit 
was in the divine spirit in which things, in the spirit, 
were seen and known. What a wonderful revelation 
to John. The history of the past, present and fu- 
ture, of persons, things and places. 

These scriptures certainly substantiate the reality 
and fully corroborate the statements in the former 
chapter, and not only do they do that (for which they 
were intended), but they are stronger proofs, taken 
together, of the glorious doctrine of the Recognition 
of Friends in Heaven. 



CHAPTER V 



TESTIMONY FROM POETRY. 



One source, and it is seldom thought of, from which 
we draw to support the doctrine of recognition of 
friends in heaven, is found in the great field of Poetic 
Literature. As little credit as will be given the argu- 
ment from this source by some of my readers, yet it 
must be remembered that the poetic rays of light have 
not been focalized on this subject very often. 

Guided by pure motives, fully possessed by divine 
inspiration, seeking for the lovely and the good, to 
what place would the God-given faculty — imagina- 
tion — seek other than the giver of the faculty — God. 
That God " who is the giver of every good and per- 
fect gilt, and from whence comes all our light." 

And when faith — on the wings of imagination — 
soars up to the higher and purer atmosphere of ex- 
istence and flings back to our benighted souls any 
hope or consolation, in the measured lines of poetry, 
let us have it. These vivid scenes and conceptions 



24 

are a reality to the poetic mind. They are desires 
that God has implanted in the hearts of his children ; 
and no doubt but what God will gratify those desires, 
and we will, as sure as we get to heaven, know and 
recognize our friends. 

One writer whose poetical gifts have been exercised 
on this theme — of knowing each other in glory — em- 
bodied his thoughts in words like the following: 

" When the mists have rolled in splendor 

From the beauty of the hills, 
And the sunshine, warm and tender, 

Falls in kisses on the rills, 
We may read love's shining letter 

In the rainbow of the spray, 
We shall know each other better 

When the mists have cleared away. 

When the silvery mists have vailed us 

From the faces of our own, 
Oft we deem their love has failed us, 

And we tread our path alone ; 
We should see them near and truly, 

We should trust them day by day, 
Never love or blame unduly 

If the mists were cleared away. 

When the mists have risen above us 

As our Father knows his own, 
Face to face with those who love us, 

We shall know as we are known. 
Love beyond the orient meadows 

Floats the golden fringe of day, 
Heart to heart we hide the shadows 

Till the mists have cleared away. 

We shall know as we are known 
Never more to walk alone 
When the day of light has dawned 
And the mists have cleared away." 

In the lines of that beautiful poem entitled " The 
Infant's Dream" (author unknown) the thought of 



25 

recognition stands forth in bold relief and expressed 
in language so chaste, elegant and touching as to 
make one feel as though they could hear the soft 
footsteps of friends who were lingering near to waft 
other friends home. That portion of the dream 
favoring the doctrine of recognition is found in the 
paragraph beginning with 

" Do you mind when sister Jane, mamma, 
Lay dead a short time ago?" 

and to the close of the dream. 

Reader, notice those lines closely when you come 
to them, for rather than spoil this perfect gem of 
poetry I will give it to you in full : 

" O! cradle me on yonr knee, mamma, 

And sing me the holy strain 
That soothed me last, as you fondly pressed 
My glowing cheek to your soft, warm breast, 
For I saw a sight as you suns me to rest 

That I fain would see again. 

And smile as you then did, mamma, 

And weep as you then did weep, 
Then fix on me your glistening eye 
And gaze and gaze till the tear be dry, 
Then rock me gently, and sing and sigh 

Till you lull me to sleep. 

For I dreamed a heavenly dream, mamma, 

While slumbering on your knee, 
And I lived in a land where forms divine 
In kingdoms of glory eternally shine, 
And the world I'd give, if the world were mine, 

Again that land to see. 

I fancied we roamed through a wood, mamma, 

And rested under a bough ; 
Then by us a butterfly fluttered in pride, 
And I chased it away through the forest wide, 
And the night came on, and I lost my guide — 

And I knew not what to do. 



26 



My heart grew sick with fear, mamma, 

And I loudly wept for thee ; 
But a white- robed maiden appeared in the air, 
And she flung back the curls of her golden hair, 
And she kissed me so softly, ere I was aware, 

Saying, ' Come, pretty baby, with me.' 

My tears and fears she beguiled, mamma, 

And she led me far away ; 
We entered the door of a dark, dark tomb, 
We passed through a Jong, long vault of gloom, 
Then opened our eyes on a land of bloom, 

And a sky of endless day. 

And heavenly forms were there, mamma, 

And lovely cherubs bright; 
They smiled when they saw me, but I was amazed, 
And, wondering, around me I gazed and gazed — 
And songs I heard, and sunny beams blazed 

All glorious, in the land of light. 

But soon came a shining throng, mamma, 

Of white-winged babies to me ; 
Their eyes looked love, and their sweet lips smiled, 
And they marveled to meet with an earth-born child; 
And they gloried that I from earth was exiled, 

Saying, ' Here, love, thou blest shalt be.' 

Then I mixed with the heavenly throng, mamma, 

With cherub and seraphine fair — 
And I saw, as I roamed through the regions of peace, 
The spirits which come from this world of distress; 
And theirs was the joy no tongue can express — 

For they know not sorrow there. 

Do you mind when sister Jane, mamma, 

Lay dead a short time ago? 
How you gazed on the sad and lovely wreck 
With a full flood of woe you could not check, 
And your heart was sore, you wished it would break; 

But you loved, and you aye sobbed on ! 

But oh ! had you been with me, mamma, 

In the realms ot' unknown care, 
To see what I saw, you'd ne'er have cried, 
Tho' you buried pretty Jane in the grave when she died ; 
For shining with the blest, and adorned like a bride, 

Sweet aiater Jane was there. 



27 



Do you mind that poor old man, mamma, 

Who cnme so late to our door? 
And ihe night was dark and the tempest loud, 
And his heart was weak, but his soul was proud, 
And his ragged old mantle was his shroud, 

Ere the midnight watch was o'er. 

And think what a night of woe, mamma, 

Made heavy each long-drawn sigh 
As the good man sat in papa's old chair, 
While the rain dropped down from his thin gray hair r 
And fast the hig tears of spe« chless care 

Ran down from his glazing eye. 

And think what a heavenward look, mamma, 

Flashed through each trembling eye 
A* he told how he went to the baron's stronghold, 
Saving ' O! let me in, for the night is cold ; ' 
But the rich man crhd 'Go sleep in the wold, 



Well, he was in glory, too, mamma, 

As happy as the blest can be; 
He needed no alms in the mansion of light, 
For he sat with the patriarch?, clothed in white, 
And there was not a seraph had a crown more bright, 

Or a costlier robe than he. 

Now sing for I fain would sleep, mamma, 

And dream as I dreamed before ; 
For sound was my slumber and sweet was my rest 
While my spirit in the regions of light was a gue-'t, 
And the heart that has throbbed in the climes of the blest 

Can love this world no more." 



Yes, reader, sweet sister Jane and the good old man 
were there and known by the darling child, and they 
were as happy as the blest can be. 

One poetic mind lias gone into the realms of this 
glorious subject of recognition of friends in Heaven 
as to anticipate his welcome to the shores of the 
better land. He says : 



28 



" Who shall greet me first in Heaven, 

When that blissful realm I gain, 
When the hands have ceased from toiling 

And the heart hath ceased from pain; 
When the last farewell is spoken, 

Severed the last tender tie, 
And I know how sweet, how solemn, 

And how blest it is to die ? 

As my barque glides o'er the waters 

Of that cold and silent stream, 
And I see the domes of temples 

In the distance brightly gl^am — 
Temples of that beauteous city 

From all blight and sorrow free, 
Who adorn its golden portals, 

First will haste to welcome me ? 

Ah, whose eyes will watch my coming 

From that fair and beauteous shore? 
Whose the voice I first shall listen 

That shall teach me heavenly lore? 
When my feet shall press the mystic 

Borders of that better land — 
Whose face greet my wondering vision ; 

Whose shall clasp the spirit hand? 

Who will greet me first in heaven ? 

Oft the earnest thought shall rise, 
Musing on the unbroken glories 

Of that home beyond the skies ; 
Who will be myiheavenly mentor? 

Will it be some seraph bright — 
Or an angel from the countless 

Myriads of that world of light ? 

No, not these, for they have never 

Dawned upon my mortal view — 
But the dear ones gone before us, 

They, the loved, the tried, the true, 
They who walked with us life's pathway, 

To its joys and griefs were given, 
They who loved us best on earth-land 

Be the first to greet us in heaven ! " 

— Nellie Wellington. 



29 



" There is a hind mine eye hath seen 

In visions of enraptured thought, 
A land upon whose blissful shore 

There rests no shadow, falls no stain ; 
There those who meet shall part no more, 

And those long parted meet again." 

" When we stand before the throne, 

Dressed in beauty not our own ; 
When we see Thee as thou art, 

Love Thee with unsinning heart ; 
Then, Lord, shall we fully know." 

" Soon with my pilgrimage ended below, 
Home to that land of delight will I go ; 
Pilgrim and stranger no more shall I roam ; 
Joyfully, joyfully resting at home. 
Friends fondly cherished have passed on before, 
Waiting, they watch me approaching that shore ; 
Singing to cheer me through death's chilling gloom, 
Joyfully, joyfully haste to my home." 

" My Savior is now over there, 

There my kindred and friends are at rest ; 
Then away from my sorrow and care, 

Let me fly to the land of the blest. 
I'll soon be at home over there, 

For the end of my journey I see. 
Many dear to my heart over tht re 

Are watching and waiting for me." 



CHAPTER VI. 

A GRAVE AND SERIOUS QUESTION. 

In my ministerial labors — preaching and teaching 
— as I mingle with my parishoners and pupils for our 
social and spiritual comfort, instructing and receiv- 
ing instructions, and especially when visiting the 
sick, I often put this question: "Do you, my brother 
or sister, believe in the recognition of friends in heaven'l" 



30 

Invariably the answer is, " Yes, I do; I believe I will 
know my friends in heaven." " It' I thought I would 
not. I would have no desire to go there," would be 
the continued answer. 

But occasionally one would answer, "No, for that 
would bring up all past relations of the earthly life, 
and that would include our sorrows and griefs we 
had on earth. The Bible tells us that there will be 
no more sickness, pain nor sorrow in heaven." An 
exceptional one, now and then, would answer, "Yes, 
but we will not know our friends there as we know 
them here. If we get to heaven and should miss 
some of our friends, it would cause us pain. To know 
that they are in misery or see them in torment would 
destroy our happiness." 

This question of knowing each other in heaven 
and our dearest friends should not be found among 
them, or it was supposed or known that they were 
lost, would it not destroy our happiness or cast a 
gloom over heaven ? 

We must confess that an answer to this objection 
is difficult, and is one which to our own mind we have 
never been able to give satisfactorily, though we 
have found some points which gave us relief. I 
would say, first, God is allwise and infinite, and we 
are ignorant and finite beings, and we can not, in our 
present state, see or comprehend how God will ad- 
just matters to the happiness of His children though 
some of the human race be lost. We might safely 
leave this perplexing question with God, feeling con- 
fident that He will in some way solve it consistent 
with the divine administration. But the heart craves 
some immediate solution, and we believe such a. solu- 
tion partially practicable. The denial of all recogni- 
tion of friends in the future life does not, to my 
mind, relieve the case. There are some things we do 



31 

know: (1.) Saints will know and remember each 
other. (2.) Saints will be perfectly happy. (3.) The 
Judge of all the earth will do right. (4.) All that 
go to hell choose to do so. (5.) They go there of 
their own accord against the tender pleading of 
friends and the striving of the Holy Spirit. (6.) If 
good society is repugnant to them on earth before 
death it would be in heaven after death. (7.) Saints 
there will see the justice of God in a light and with 
an understanding that they never did before. God's 
justice will meet the approval of saints. And this 
approval will not carry sorrow, pain, or remorse with 
it. When we awake in His likeness we shall be sat- 
isfied. God, in His Word, emphatically says: 
"There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain." (Rev. 
xxi, 4.) Paul says : " It doth not yet appear what 
we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear 
we shall be like him." Christ did all he could to 
save the lost, and if he gave them over to hardness 
of heart and destruction so can we, for the reason 
that we shall be like Him. If this is right and just 
with Christ, so will it be with us. If it does not de- 
stroy the happiness of Christ, neither will it destroy 
our peace and happiness in heaven. 

Again: If God, who is love, can bear the thought 
of seeing the chlidren of his creation cut off and 
punished, a God who has manifested such a love 
toward them, such as no earthly parent can, and it is 
right and just in his sight, so will it be in our judg- 
ment, whose love for relatives, as dear as we love 
them, is infinitely less than God's love. God who so 
loved us, even while we were yet sinners, that he gave 
his only begotten Son — and scarcely for our neighbor 
will one of us die — that whosoever believeth on Him 
should not perish but have everlasting life. If God 



32 

who so loved them can bear this banishment from his 
presence, so can we when we see and understand 
things by the true light. 

I think further: We will carry with us into the 
future the associations of this life. When there we 
may think over our successes and our failures, our 
sorrows and joys, our trials and conflicts. We will, 
no doubt, be permitted to look back on the dark side 
of our earthly pilgrimage ; even we may wish we had 
done better; but nothing will mar our peace or hap- 
piness. For instance, a person may be happy in 
church, and know and even see a friend there who is 
a sinner, even may wish him to be saved; yet be- 
cause he will not, does not destroy the happiness of 
the one who is full of the love of God and engaged 
in doing the will of God. Too much thought on this 
finds us stranding ourselves or paralyzing our efforts 
to get to heaven. We would better take God at his 
word. Trust him, do his bidding and strive to enter 
in. Hear the welcome plaudit, " Come ye blessed 
and enter into your reward." You will not be 
troubled about your friends. You may spend a part 
of eternity solving the problem as to how you got 
there. It is a serious and knotty question for us, but 
not for God. But when we get to heaven, the in- 
comprehensible now will be made plain. We see things 
here and now through a glass darkly, but then and 
there face to face. Wonderful revelations for us in 
heaven. We will be busy if we get there. We, with 
all the heavenly host, will cry out in a chorus of loud 
hallelujahs, "lie hath done all things well." Our 
joys will be complete in Him who is All in All. In 
the conclusion of this important chapter we observe, 
in the language of Rev. J. M. Killen, "that the 
Scriptures do not leave us in doubt in reference to 
this matter, for its disclosures prove that the positive 



33 



knowledge of those who are in ruin causes no pain 
whatever to the inhabitants of heaven. The Savior, 
it will be universally acknowledged, has certainly as 
much — yea, far more — tenderness of feeling than the 
most sensitive of His people. Thus we find Him, in 
the days of his early ministry, weeping over the in- 
habitants of Jerusalem, and lamenting their ap- 
proaching ruin; yet Jesus is now perfectly aware 
how many of those Jerusalem sinners perished in 
their transgressions. Indeed, He and the angels will 
forever see all who will finally be lost, for we are ex- 
pressly informed that all such are destined to be tor- 
mented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the 
holy angels, and in the presence of the Laynb. (Rev. xiv, 
10.) This knowledge, however, does not at all in- 
terfere with the perfect felicity of the blessed 
Redeemer and His angelic hosts; and if it does not 
lessen the enjoyment of the Head — Christ — we may 
rest satisfied it will not in the slightest degree affect 
the happiness of the members of the heavenly house- 
hold. 

As Dr. Clark has well said, "Who has loved their 
souls more deeply than the Savior? Who has suf- 
fered so much for their redemption or waited so long 
that he might be gracious unto them ? And yet, now 
that the harvest is past, the summer ended and the 
justice of God overtaken them, even their sufferings 
can not mar the felicity of the Son of God. And if 
the punishment of the wicked is not a matter of pain 
to the Savior, nor yet to the angels in his presence, 
have we not reason, great reason, to believe it will be 
also with those ' redeemed from among men?' ' 

Then, again, there will be that perfect acquiescence 
in the will of God, that harmony with God, that 
union with God, which will exclude forever any pos- 
sibility of feeling otherwise than in harmony with 

3-R 



34 

all the Divine purposes and acts. There is force of 
truth as well as depth of sympathy in those lines of 
Bishop Mant : 

" Fear not the prospect of the realms of woe 
Shall mar thy bliss, or thence sad thoughts arise 
To blunt thy sense of heavenly ecstacies. 
There, if thy heart with warm devotion glow, 
Meet for thy place, 'twill solace thee to know 
No friend of thine, 'mid those keen agonies 
In that dark prison-house of torment lies — 
For none is there but is of God the foe, 
An alien, thus, from thee. The ties of blood 
And earth's most sacred bonds are but a twine 
Of gossamer compared with what is owed 
To Him, the Lord of All ! On Him recline — 
He shall thy heart of every care unload; 
He bid the day with cloudless luster shine — 
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" 



CHAPTER VII. 

TESTIMONY FROM EMOTIONAL PERCEPTION OR FEELING. 

In treating on this pleasant and important subject,, 
there is an argument from the perception of the mind 
or feeling of the heart which must not be overlooked. 
Just how this is I am not able to explain, but some- 
how the mind perceives and the heart feels that we 
will recognize each other in heaven. 

I have approached hundreds, both learned and un- 
learned, with this question : " Do you believe in the 
recognition of friends in heaven?" "Yes," has been 
the answer and, in almost every case, without any hes- 
itancy. Then I would say: "Will you give me a 
reason why you believe so?" "Well, the Bible 
teaches the doctrine." " Yes, that's so, but can you 
give me a reason outside the Bible answer ?" " Well, 



35 

I don't know that I can. Somehow I think it will 
be so. I feel that way, anyhow. I desire to know 
my friends in heaven. If I thought I would not 
know them, it would not be heaven to me." These 
and kindred answers I have received from hundreds 
of good, honest, kind and pious persons. 

Now, what is feeling'! Feeling is an emotional 
perception, a faculty expressive of great sensibility. 
There are hundreds and thousands that have this ex- 
pressive sensibility or emotional "perception that they 
will know their friends in glory. This feeling or 
emotional perception is a God-given sensibility, and 
God will gratify its pure, upward tendency. Else 
why this fond desire, this longing hope, this longing 
for such recognition ? This pure feeling or holy de- 
sire to know friends in heaven will be satisfied. 

I have carried this thought farther : " What makes 
you feel that you will know your friends in heaven ?" 
One good brother answered, after some hesitancy, 
" Because I love them. My heart has been changed." 
Ah! here is a new thought, "My heart has been 
changed." 

I found that this emotional perception is more prev- 
alent in the godly than in the ungodly. Why is 
this? Because the godly have one of the funda- 
mental elements of recognition, which is love. Love is 
one of the strong and agreeable ties of association. 
I find that the nature of heavenly recognition is the 
vital union with Christ. The seal of this union is 
love. It is this mystical union between Christ and 
His people, between Christian and Christian, that 
constitutes the nature of recognition, the enjoyment 
of holy friendship and everlasting fellowship. 

It was natural for this good brother, who had 
Christ in his heart — the hope of glory — to feel that 
he would know his friends in heaven. It was a pure 



36 

emotional perception of his sanctified nature. I un- 
derstand that our natures are not to be destroyed or 
metamorphosed, or essentially altered, but redeemed,, 
renewed and perfected. The change to be wrought on 
us is not one of nature or essence, but of condition. 
This change is not such as to make recognition im- 
possible. "Who shall change our vile bodies that 
they may be fashioned like unto His glorious body?" 
I went away from that good brother's house satis- 
fied that I was wiser for having been in his com- 
pany, and amply repaid for asking questions and re- 
ceiving such meek replies, which has developed into 
this short chapter. " I feel that I will know my 
friends in heaven." I thought, " What is there in 
feeling?" Here is strong emotional perception. 
" Why do you feel that you will know your friends in 
heaven?" said I. "Because I love them," was the 
reply. Here is the solution of the problem love. 
" When is this feeling — emotional perception — strong- 
est?" "When I am enjoying myself religiously, or 
when I have perfect peace with God," was the 
natural, quiet reply. " Well," said I, " you have the 
bell-rope, and I hear it ring." I was getting light 
and knowledge where I least expected to find it. I 
thought, " Despise not the day of small things." I 
was so delighted with these answers I indulged 
further. " Suppose you get to heaven and find that 
your friends are not there, would you not feel bad — 
would there not be a gloom over heaven to you?" 
" No, oh no," was the reply; "that's God's business, 
and not mine. I am not afraid but what God will 
do all things well. My business is to get there and 
to get all to go with me that I can. And I'll be satis- 
fied when I awake in his likeness." To me this was 
the clear notes of the gospel bell, struck by the ham- 
mer of truth, and the sound was joy, peace and sat- 



37 

isfaction. So we have the emotional perception or 
feeling of the heart bearing testimony to the fact that 
we shall know each other " when the mists have 
cleared away." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



TESTIMONY FROM SCRIPTURE. 



" Search the Scriptures. They are they which testify of me." — John. 

In this chapter, which is a continuation of the 
same delightful subject, we feel free to make use of 
extensive extracts from J. Edmonson's work entitled 
the " Heavenly World;" also, to give Scripture as 
proof of the glorious doctrine of recognition. 

" We know each other in the 'present world. All human 
beings have certain distinctive marks by which they 
are known ; and will these be lost in the world to 
come? Will our knowledge of each other be less 
perfect in a world of perfection than it is in this 
imperfect state? It can not be ascertained how we 
may be known to each other there, but if we ex- 
amine the subject on the principles of analogy we 
can not doubt. There is a high probability that we 
shall then know all whom we have known before by 
some resemblance of their former appearance which 
they may still retain. 

"There is a general likeness in the countenances of 
men, accompanied with such amazing variety that 
there never were two faces exactly alike; but when 
anyone is well known by his friends and acquaint- 
ances it is not an easy matter to forget them. He is 
remembered when absent and is not forgotten after 
he has been removed by death. 

"And why may we not suppose that the spirits of 



38 

men, when they are seen by spirits, will be recog- 
nized by some identical appearance ? Will the pe- 
culiarities of their respective forms be so far changed 
that they can not be known to those who knew them 
in the body, and who conversed with them in the 
flesh ? It has been supposed by physiognomists that 
every feature of man arises from some peculiar prop- 
erty in his soul, and if this be true, that property 
will appear conspicuously after he has laid aside his 
body. And after his resurrection he will still retain 
that peculiarity in external appearance which he had 
on earth. If this reasoning be correct, we shall most 
assuredly know each other both before and after the 
resurrection of the dead. 

" Is it possible to lose a recollection of our dearest 
friends in a world of perfection? This implies a 
contradiction, and he who attempts to prove it must 
affirm that we know our friends in a state of com- 
parative ignorance, but that we shall be forever un- 
known to each other when we are perfected in knowl- 
edge. Recollection of persons and things in ages 
that have passed away will be one source of eternal 
blessedness, and to be deprived of this would cut off 
that stream of pleasure which will be enjoyed in the 
happy junction of all the wise and good of every age. 

" It has always been considered that a knowledge 
of men and things is a high attainment, and shall we 
be ignorant either of the one or the other when we 
live in a world of light and glory ? Will all be 
strangers and unknown to each other in the heavenly 
society ? The idea is extremely absurd, and should 
be banished from the mind of every intelligent man. 
The question how we shall know each other is un- 
necessary, and can not be solved, but if we possess 
this knowledge in the present world, surely it will be 
continued in a higher state." 



39 



LAZARUS WAS KNOWN IN HEAVEN. 

The angels that carried him to Abraham's bosom 
knew him well. Abraham knew him, mentioned his 
former name, and stated his sufferings on earth. 
Luke xvi, 25. The rich man, though in hell, knew 
both Abraham and Lazarus, who were in heaven ; 
for he said : "He seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus 
in his bosom." This is a deep mystery, but a real 
fact. Abraham knew the rich man, that he was one 
of his descendants, was well acquainted with his 
history and called him son. "Son remember that 
thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and 
likewise Lazarus his evil things, but now he is com- 
forted and thou art tormented." How wonderful are 
those worlds to w r hich we are going, where both the 
saved and the lost are known to each other, though 
separated by an impassable gulf. 

In this account, whether it be considered as a 
parable or an historical fact, our blessed Lord conveys 
the idea that departed spirits are known to each other 
after this life. It does not weaken the force of the 
argument to consider this portion of Scripture 
merely as a parable ; for all parables are founded on 
fact, and this proves the fact for which we contend ; 
and no one can entertain a doubt on this subject who 
gives credit to Jesus as a divine teacher. 

We can not explain profound mysteries, but we 
believe what God has condescended to reveal in his 
holy word. 

PASTORS WILL KNOW THEIR FLOCKS 

In heaven; and the flocks will know r their pastors. 
This fact is stated by Paul when he says to the 
Thessalonian believers : " For what is our hope, or 
joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not ye in the 



40 

presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? 
For ye are our glory and joy." (I Thes., ii, 19-20.) 

If ministers can not know their flocks when Jesus 
comes, how can they joy in them at his appearing? 

"We shall be presented in a state of perfection by 
those ministers who have warned us and taught us in 
all wisdom. " Christ in you the hope of glory; whom 
we preach, warning every man, and teaching every 
man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man 
perfect in Christ Jesus." Will not pastors know 
them whom they present to their God and Savior? 
And if the pastors know their flocks, will not the 
flocks know their pastors ? And will not their joy be 
mutual when they meet in the heavenly fold ? Will 
not they recollect those refreshing seasons which they 
enjoyed together in the green pastures of divine 
ordinances, while they dwelt on earth? With what 
unknown pleasure shall we behold those teachers 
who cared for our souls, and who showed us the way 
of salvation. With what pleasure shall we behold 
and know anyone who has been a help to us in our 
earthly pilgrimage." 

"We shall know each other when we are examined 
and j udged at the bar of Jesus. God shall bring every 
w x ork into judgment. How can we hear the impar- 
tial examination of the Judge without a knowledge 
of the parties concerned, especially if we knew them 
and had connections with them in the present world? 

" The dead, small and great, will stand before God, 
the books will be opened, and every one shall be 
judged in righteousness, according to his works. 
Every individual will be known, with every circum- 
stance of his life. Shall we not know our religious 
friends when we see them on the right hand of the 
Judge, and with whom we shall enter into the king- 
dom of God? If it be still objected that a knowl- 



41 

edge of our relations and acquaintances who may be 
banished from Christ will fill us with grief, we reply 
that we will have such a view of the equity of the 
Judge that nothing will distress us that is done by 
Him. All His works and ways will seem fit and 
proper, and we shall say: 'It is the Lord. Let Him 
do what seemeth Him good.' " 

The fellowship of saints which began on earth 
will be perfected in heaven. With holy and happy 
souls we have had sweet communion on earth and 
shall we not delight in a joyful communion in 
heaven? With them we have prayed, with them 
we have suffered, and with them we have fought and 
conquered. 

Will all things, with all our pious conversations, 
be buried in eternal oblivion ? The idea is extremely 
absurd. Being in the same happy state with our 
relatives and friends, they will be accessible to us 
and we will know them. 

" But how shall we know those holy persons who 
lived in former ages and in distant climes ? " The 
answer is easy : Intelligent spirits who knew them 
well will make them known to us in friendly 
conversations. How did the three disciples know 
Moses and Elijah when they appeared with Him on 
the Mount? It is probable that they received in- 
formation from their Master, to whom these departed 
saints were well known ; and in the heavenly world 
it may be said to us : This is Abraham, that is Job, 
and that is Daniel. All those saints, when once 
made known to us, will be known to us forever. If 
we were to travel to any civilized region of this 
world, should we not be introduced to the inhabit- 
ants of the place by some friendly person who might 
know them? And are saints less courteous in the 



42 

heavenly world than men on earth ? In that world 
of felicity, holy spirits of every rank take pleasure 
in communicating happiness; and our happiness will 
be greatly augmented by a knowledge of all the in- 
habitants of that place, where we shall live to all 
eternity. 

Will not the Lord, who has connected the ties of 
friendship, appoint certain spirits to discover to us 
those holy friends whom we knew before, and with 
whom we shall live forever? Angels have had 
charge of every good man on earth, from the be- 
ginning of the world, and they know every one by 
name. And will not those lovely spirits discover 
the saints to each other ? And shall we not receive 
from them extensive information of those good men 
to whom they ministered in the present world ? And 
the saints of former ages, who are far advanced in 
knowledge, may be appointed to instruct their 
younger brethren. The Divine Being, who knows 
all things, employs instruments and agents to in- 
struct men ; and why may He not pursue a similar 
plan, in His wise government of angels and saints, in 
a world of glory ?. 

We do not pretend to explain how those happy 
spirits instruct each other. It has not been revealed, 
and it is a subject which our limited powers can not 
discover. For we are unacquainted with their lan- 
guage, their organs of speech, and their method of 
communicating ideas, but it must be absurd to sup- 
pose they are less perfect in these things than mortal 
man in the present state of comparative ignorance. 
No doubt they excel, in every method that can be 
used, of communicating thought from one intellect- 
ual being to another. And can they be ignorant of 
each other? Will nothing be said by intellectual 



43 

spirit to bring to remembrance persons and things of 
former times ? Scripture and reason are both at 
variance with this absurd opinion. 

But what sweet and edifying conversations may be 
expected between kindred spirits in that happy 
world! And how amazingly will these be height- 
ened by a perfect knowledge of each other, when all 
have passed through this world of sin and sorrow I 
One will ever be ready to teach another, and all will 
rejoice in the acquisition of knowledge. The mind 
of every one will be enlarged ; truth will be un- 
folded, and all will be innocent and holy. The joy 
arising from a knowledge of each other will be mu- 
tual; aud to know and be made known will produce 
pleasure that can not be expressed. " When that 
which is perfect is come then that which is in part 
shall be done away. Now I know in part, but then 
shall I know even as also I am known." 



CONCLUSION. 

" Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter." 

Here we are at last. The end of a pleasant task. 
From point to point on the mountain range of argu- 
ment we have gone. In every field of thought, from 
every path of experience; from the tower of obser- 
vation we have culled and collected the ferns and 
flowers of thought ; to the great and inexhaustible 
mine of God's word we have gone for light, and we 
trust what rays of light have been collected will be 
focalized to such a point that by faith you can see 
the shining hosts above waiting to bid you welcome 
to the home of the blest. There, as Stephen, you 
may behold the glory of God, and see Jesus standing 



44 

at his right hand. As Peter, James and John beheld 
Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, and saw 
Moses and Elias with him, and knew them, so will 
you know them. As Jesus said, "Many shall come 
from the east and from the west, and shall sit down 
with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of 
heaven," so will you be one of that number, and shall 
know Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

You know your dear friends and relatives here, so 
will you know them in glory. Blessed thought! 
You know your little darling boy or girl here — you 
will know them there as you have known them 
here, for Jesus said, " Suffer little children to come 
unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Thank 
God! there will be little children in heaven. Whole 
families will be there, " Of all nations, kindreds and 
people and tongues" will be there, standing before 
the throne, clothed with white robes and palms in 
their hands. In the words of Dr. Isaac Barrow: "In 
that world we shall enjoy the blissful sight of God, 
smiling in love and favor upon us ; the presence of 
our gracious Redeemer, embracing us with most ten- 
der affection; the society of holy angels and of just 
men made perfect, whose company and conversation, 
how inconceivably sweet and delightful must it be; 
wherein nothing adverse or troublesome can befall 
us ; no unpleasant or offensive object shall present it- 
self to us ; no want or need of anything shall appear; 
no care, or fear, or suspicion ; no labor or toil, no 
sorrow or pain, distaste or regret, no stir or conten- 
tion, no listlessness or satiety shall be felt, or shall 
come near us ; where God, as it is in the Apocalypse, 
will wipe every tear from the eyes of them who come 
there, and death shall be no more ; nor sorrow nor 
clamor, nor pain, any more; it is, in fine, a state in 
excellence surpassing all words to express it, all 



45 

thoughts to conceive it ; of which the brightest 
splendors and choicest pleasures here are but ob- 
scure shadows and faint resemblances." 

In conclusion, let me say, if in what we have said 
on the subject of recognition of friends in heaven, 
we have been the humble instrument in strengthen- 
ing any believer, or have awakened anyone to seek 
a deeper work of grace, or for better qualifications 
for heaven, or should any sinner who may chance to 
read this book be led to cry out, " Lord, save or I 
perish," or, " Create in me a clean heart, so that I 
may have a place among the redeemed," 1 shall feel 
amply repaid for giving to the public this little vol- 
ume, which goes in search for seekers and craves to 
reflect the glorious light of the Son of God, who has 
said: " Where I am there ye may be also." 



THE END. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS § 



021 226 169 5 



